Establishing the Capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Array as a Passive Radar for the Surveillance of Space
arXiv:2206.02357 · doi:10.3390/rs14112571
Abstract
This paper describes the use of the Murchison Widefield Array, a low-frequency radio telescope at a radio-quiet Western Australian site, as a radar receiver forming part of a continent-spanning multistatic radar network for the surveillance of space. This paper details the system geometry employed, the orbit-specific radar signal processing, and the orbit determination algorithms necessary to ensure resident space objects are detected, tracked, and propagated. Finally, the paper includes the results processed after a short collection campaign utilising several FM radio transmitters across the country, up to a maximum baseline distance of over 2500 km. The results demonstrate the Murchison Widefield Array is able to provide widefield and persistent coverage of objects in low Earth orbit.
References in corpus (11)
- The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design Overview
- The High Time and Frequency Resolution Capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Array
- On the detection and tracking of space debris using the Murchison Widefield Array. I. Simulations and test observations demonstrate feasibility
- Low Frequency Observations of the Moon with the Murchison Widefield Array
- Science with the Murchison Widefield Array: Phase I Results and Phase II Opportunities
- Surveillance of Space using Passive Radar and the Murchison Widefield Array
- Improved Techniques for the Surveillance of the Near Earth Space Environment with the Murchison Widefield Array
- The Development of Non-coherent Passive Radar Techniques for Space Situational Awareness with the Murchison Widefield Array
- MWA tied-array processing III: Microsecond time resolution via a polyphase synthesis filter
- Ionospheric correction of space radar data
- An Ultra-High Time Resolution Cosmic Ray Detection Mode for the Murchison Widefield Array